A new campaign to raise awareness of sextortion is being planned by the Scottish Government as part of efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.

The action plan is being developed by both ministers and local government body Cosla, and pledges to work to help tackle the problem. Sextortion is classed as being online blackmailed, where people are told that sexually explicit images or videos of them will be shared with others in a bid to extort money from them.

Anyone can become a victim of this but UK-wide data suggests children between the ages of 15 and 17 and adults aged 18-30 are particularly at risk.

To tackle this threat, the latest Equally Safe delivery plan – which sets out out a range of measures to tackle violence against women and girls – also includes a committed to “launch a targeted sextortion awareness campaign aimed at young people and the adults that work with and look after them”.

Read More: 

This is scheduled to take place in November 2024, according to the document.

The plan also includes a commitment to develop a “public facing engagement campaign to work with men and boys to challenge misogyny”.

With research showing women and girls with learning disabilities are at higher risk of suffering abuse, the plan also vows to improve access to support services for women and girls with learning disabilities.

Work will also be done with schools and other education settings – both mainstream and those specifically for those with special educational needs – to improve students’ understanding of relationships and violence against women and girls.

And, for the first time, the plan includes taking forward a specific approach to tackle honour-based abuse, with a commitment given to consider introducing a statutory definition of this.

Noting that some minority ethnic women who are living with extended family can suffer abuse at the hands of both their partner and other family members in the same household, the plan also aims to develop an approach to tackle this, with the consideration of legislation.

Launching the new plan during a visit to the Glasgow and Clyde Rape Crisis (GCRC) Centre, equalities minister Kaukab Stewart said: “Violence against women and girls is abhorrent and has no place in modern Scotland.”

She said the plan “sets out our sustained focus on prevention, improving support services and ensuring the justice response is robust”.

The minister continued: “Gendered abuse can happen in any community and to ensure that it is tackled effectively and equitably for all women, we are strengthening our response to the diverse ways that violence and abuse can occur.

“That includes recognising that abusers could be extended family members rather than partners – like in some cases of honour-based violence – and ensuring tailored support is provided for vulnerable groups, including women with learning disabilities and migrants.”

Ms Stewart was joined on the visit by Cosla community wellbeing spokesperson, Maureen Chalmers, who described the delivery plan as being a “road map underpinning the next phase of Cosla’s and the Scottish Government’s shared journey towards an equally safe Scotland for women and girls”.

She said the government and councils would “work collaboratively over the next two years with key specialist and public sector partners, to achieve the delivery of these commitments”, with Ms Chalmers stressing: “No one government, sector or service can prevent and tackle violence against women and girls alone.”

Claudia Macdonald-Bruce, GCRC director, said: “Every day, we see the impact that an experience of rape and sexual abuse has on women and girls. It is life-changing, life-altering and sometimes life-ending.

“No woman or girl should have to wait for our help when they ask for it.

“I hope that today’s opportunity to see in action how our trauma-informed, survivor voice and data-led approaches to the provision and development of our specialist services for women and girls, is welcomed too as future decisions continue to be made.”